


grow a garden

by untilthenlive



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: KuroFai, KuroFai Week, KuroFai Week 2020, M/M, PAST kuroparents, Resettled Suwa, and also husbands resettling suwa, did you know i love them so much?, fluff. lots and lots of lovey family fluff, kuroparents - Freeform, not safe for newbies, well.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27770419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untilthenlive/pseuds/untilthenlive
Summary: Kurogane's mother had always loved flowers. He can barely remember a time she wasn’t around flowers in some way. Even now, he instantly thinks of her - and his father - when he smells the nectar of spring, when he feels the gentle brush of petals falling on his face, in his hair.In his mind, Suwa is a flower garden itself, bright and lovely and safe.So years later, when he first returns to its ruins, older and wiser and no less in grief - it’s a shock when it takes Fai gently pointing out the dying and desolate flower beds around the estate for him to notice they’re gone.Post-series, Resettled-Suwa, KuroFai Husbands FLUFF.
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	grow a garden

Kurogane’s mother had always loved flowers.

She loved them so much that any memory he has of her is enveloped in them; the scent of pollen, the raining of petals, the blooming of rosebuds. Wisteria frames her as she tends to those gardens of his youth.

She had always loved to help the gardeners with their work. She fought smiling against their insistence that she was the priestess, and as such, shouldn’t be doing any sort of physical labor. But she was always eager to do it anyway, to be a part of something so transient, so consistent but ever-changing, as the cycle of life itself.

Those gardens thrived in her care - and sometimes, when she went to work on them, Kurogane would tag along.

Watching the work itself was boring, he thought, so sometimes he would help. Pulling up weeds was easy enough, and if he did it for her then she wouldn’t have to get her hands so dirty. Watching her carefully trim and shape the bushes took _so long,_ though, and by the time watering came along, he had always long checked out. But she would talk to him the whole time, teaching him the names of each flower, or feeding him stories of the spirits of the plants. Sometimes, as she picked out the nicest flowers for bouquets for the grounds, he would steal the clippers and act out a fierce battle as she told a tale - which he did as much to entertain himself as he did to hear her laugh.

Most times, he would end up running off to climb the nearest tree, laughing and shaking the branches so the cherry petals would fall and cover her up. But before he did, she would always grab hold of his hand and make him wait, as she slipped one of the biggest, prettiest flowers she had picked right behind his ear. Her delicate fingers would brush affectionately at the tip of his ear, and he would beam up at her in adoration of his dear mother, before running off.

Of course, rambunctious as he was, those carefully-chosen flowers would never stay tucked into his hair for long - knocked loose by the branches of the tallest and mightiest trees he could climb.

From up in his spot in the branches, though, he always watched as his father would appear, tired from a long day but always ecstatic to see his beloved family. Mother would greet him, placing a flower in his hair, too. And he would beam down adoringly at her, stealing one more of the flowers from her bouquet - clumsily but lovingly placing it into her hair in return, before gently taking a lock of her hair in his hand and placing a kiss on it.

Then, Kurogane would shake down more petals on top of both of them, making them all laugh.

Later, they would all walk home together, Mother placing her bouquet of the day somewhere around the manor once they arrived. There were arrangements everywhere in Suwa, back then - plum and cherry blossoms in the spring, irises and sunflowers in the summer, lavender in the early autumn. The winter would inevitably bring a pause in the abundance of flowers around the grounds - but that was simply when Mother would wear her brightest, most floral garments.

Kurogane can barely remember a time she wasn’t around flowers in some way. Even now, he instantly thinks of her - and his father - when he smells the nectar of spring, when he feels the gentle brush of petals falling on his face, in his hair.

In his mind, Suwa is a flower garden itself, bright and lovely and safe.

So years later, when he first returns to its ruins, older and wiser and no less in grief - it’s a shock when it takes _Fai_ gently pointing out the dying and desolate flower beds around the estate for him to notice they’re gone.

Where Kurogane remembers rainbows of blooming tulips - rose bushes and plum trees and lavender fields and _greenery_ \- now there lie all but empty lands. Brown and wilted plant matter they should have been watering, weeds he should’ve been picking, overgrown bushes Mother should have been trimming. His heart aches as he looks over patches where the plants have died out or been eaten or trampled entirely by wildlife; the whole grounds now just as untamed as they had been before they’d been settled in the first place, long before he was born.

He feels a hand slip into his own from beside him, and he grips it tightly, closing his eyes. He doesn’t need to say anything for Fai to know this place is not at all the same as it used to be.

And Fai doesn’t ask.

But in the coming months, as they find their footing in this old but new place, building and rebuilding a foundation and a _home -_ he notices when Fai eyes those empty flower beds, with an almost wistful look in his eyes. Kurogane himself tries to ignore them, focusing on more immediate and pressing matters like construction and defense and alliances with nobles of the surrounding lands. But he can’t help but feel wistful himself when he spots the mage leaning against a sturdy door frame, looking out at those desolate and empty fields, lost in thought.

He knows Fai is drawn to those empty gardens, but he doesn’t know why.

Finally, one morning - when they have been in Suwa for almost a year, foundation built and community growing, when things are beginning to run more smoothly - he wakes up to find Fai already out of bed.

He has a few meetings with advisors and generals that morning, so he doesn’t go searching for him immediately. But when lunchtime comes around, it doesn’t take too much snooping for Kurogane to spot him.

Just outside the main hall, that blonde head is poking out from the dead fields, surrounded by a few others, and he can hear talking and a little bit of laughter. He raises an eyebrow in curiosity, and steps out the screen doors.

As he approaches the group, he can see what’s happening - Fai and a few servants are crouched low to the ground, picking out weeds and dead plants and placing them in piles as they go.

Kurogane slowly walks up just behind his husband - places a hand on his head in greeting. Fai looks up and backwards to see who’s appeared, and when they make eye contact, he just smiles that beaming smile, upside down from Kurogane’s perspective behind him.

Kurogane tries to school his expression into somewhat of a smile back down at him, but he’s too curious and a little shocked about the events unfolding around him to make it convincing. “What’s going on?” He asks.

Fai turns around and stands in one fluid motion, brushing some of the dirt and dust off his clothes - _working_ clothes, Kurogane notices with a quirk of an eyebrow - before answering. “It just looks so bleak out here, I thought I’d try to start a clean-up of the grounds, and... maybe start a garden,” he says simply - nonchalantly, as if the concept itself isn’t starting a fire of pure adoration in Kurogane’s heart.

The idea of Fai bringing life back to what was essentially his mother’s garden… it’s almost too much for him to bear, especially in front of a bunch of people he barely knows.

“A garden, huh?” He asks, picking at a missed burr stuck on his husband’s clothes, trying to hide his satisfaction. Fai grins, though - he knows he’s caught onto something. “Thought you were too lazy for manual labor,” Kurogane adds, poking a jab to try and distract him.

“Hey,” Fai objects, giving him a light smack on the wrist but still grinning. “That is _not_ true. Not when it’s something I care about,” he adds, pointedly.

Kurogane sighs, and rolls his eyes fondly.

It takes a few weeks for the grounds to be weeded fully, and after that there’s the matter of readying the soil to be tilled and suitable for new plants. It’s a long time before any flowers bloom, but Kurogane is almost surprised to keep finding Fai helping out every day, rain or shine. The servants start to object to the priest-consort’s participation in manual labor, and Fai’s insistence on continuing the work reminds Kurogane of his own mother’s stubbornness on the matter.

Eventually, seeds are planted, sprouts are watered, and suddenly, everything is _green_.

Winter passes, and Kurogane realizes he has no idea where the mage learned any gardening skills in that cold, snowy world of his - or any world after, for that matter. But all the same, he seems to be a natural at it, the plants seeming eager to grow and thrive under his care, even during the colder months.

(As ridiculous as that sounds to Kurogane, it just seems true. He has no fucking clue how this man was ever labeled a curse or a bringer of misfortune, when he is _so_ gifted at the surprisingly difficult act of nurturing and encouraging _life,_ no matter how small.)

Before they know it, the first warmth in the air signals the arrival of the first spring since this project kicked off - the second spring since their arrival here. And all of a sudden, the grounds look _just_ like Kurogane remembers them from his childhood.

There are flowers _everywhere -_ blooming out of the ground and falling from the trees, covering the bushes around the manor. There are bouquets and arrangements throughout the estate, on tables and at doorways and anywhere Fai (and the servants) see fit to place them.

For the first time since they arrived, there is finally color and fragrance and _life_ in Suwa again, and it makes Kurogane’s heart ache in the sweetest way.

* * *

One morning, they decide to take a walk around the grounds. They have nothing else to do today, nowhere else to be - and when Fai pulls him out the door right after breakfast, insisting on a stroll, Kurogane at least has the decency to _pretend_ to grumble. 

(He _does_ chuckle to himself at that notion, though - a _stroll,_ of all things, seems like something he never would have done before. But now... well. Now lots of things have changed.)

He lets Fai walk a little way ahead of him, checking on all the flowers and bushes and making sure they’re doing alright. Kurogane is a few steps behind, but he doesn’t mind watching the mage admiring his own work. Hell, he’s admiring it, too.

Kurogane wonders briefly, for the first time since all this began, if Fai has been using any magic to help the flowers along. But... somehow, he knows that if he has, it's been very sparse - maybe a few simple spells here and there to help any particularly struggling plants or branches. Besides, by now, Kurogane has learned to tap into the presence of magic when it’s nearby, and the only thing he can feel right now is the constant, reassuring hum of power radiating from the mage himself.

No, Fai has made this happen all on his own - with nothing but his own two hands.

Kurogane can’t quite figure out why, but Fai just seems to be so _passionate_ about this, and he is not hiding very well just how _glad_ he is that Fai is already so involved in life here.

Fai looks... _happy._ Truly and genuinely happy.

Kurogane grins at the thought.

They walk for a while, appreciating these new gardens, letting the fresh scents of spring fill their noses and the light of the sun warm their skin. Fai keeps smiling back at him, almost expectantly, but Kurogane doesn’t say anything - just looks back at him fondly before tearing his eyes away, looking around instead, at the fruits of all his husband’s hard work.

 _I should start helping him with this,_ he thinks.

Suddenly, Fai grabs his hand and pulls him off the main path, to Kurogane’s surprise. He leads him instead onto a hidden path he hadn't even noticed before - between two of the cherry trees. Kurogane follows him silently, curious - and soon enough, he sees what Fai is leading him to.

It’s a small clearing, almost a meadow, full of wildflowers, surrounded by cherry trees and plum trees and rose bushes, all in full bloom. There are a few benches along the edge of the clearing - a perfect place for a nice, quiet rest.

"I've been keeping this place a secret. For you," Fai says, pulling him toward one of the benches. "Do you like it?" He asks, trying but failing to hide his excitement, his nervous desire for approval. They sit down, and Kurogane looks around for a moment, trying to remember if he even knew this spot existed.

He takes in a deep breath, smelling the flowers, feeling the breeze and the shade cool his skin.

He realizes he _has_ been here before, once. On a different spring day, a year or two before… _before._

Before Mother had gotten sick. Before things had fallen apart. Before everything had changed.

One of the last times he had ever, from his spot high up in the branches of a cherry tree, seen his mother place a flower in his father's hair.

He sucks in another breath. As the cherry blossoms fall around them, Kurogane takes a moment to think about all it has taken to get here, in this moment. It looks and smells and feels _so much_ like his childhood here - but he knows he's not a child anymore, hasn't been for a long, long time.

He remembers his mother tending this very garden, remembers playing with his father in a pile of cherry petals - and for the first time, that memory opens up, and changes right before his eyes.

He imagines Mother, right in this very clearing, excitedly teaching Fai all her gardening secrets - Fai eagerly listening and trying to remember it all. He imagines Father walking along with the girl who shares her name with these falling petals - embarrassing Sakura with well-meaning but unasked-for romantic advice about Syaoran. Syaoran - who is sitting off to the side, just within earshot but not hearing a _word_ of the mortifying conversation taking place right beside him, due to all the scrolls strewn around his feet. They’re history scrolls about Japan and Suwa, history and literature and poetry all opened up before him. The other kid and princess would be here, too - sitting and talking with Tomoyo, all together on one of the other benches. Then Mokona would bounce down from up in the trees, into Syaoran’s lap, startling him out of his reverie and making Sakura and Fai and _everyone_ laugh.

He looks around at this garden, at this place of memories that had once been lost forever, and had now been renewed beyond his wildest dreams. He looks at it and he _knows,_ for the first time, that the love for the family that he misses - and will _always_ miss - has been reborn, living in the unending love he has for his new family.

He knows he's been deep in thought for longer than he meant to be when he feels Fai's thumb rubbing circles in his palm, and he turns his head to see the mage smiling up at him with a slight concern in his eyes. Kurogane looks at him and remembers where he is; realizes, once again, that _Fai_ did all this. _Fai_ brought this garden back to life.

And _fuck,_ Kurogane loves him. Does he know he loves him?

He takes a deep breath again, and looks down at his husband, intertwining their fingers together. Fai’s expression turns to relief, at that. Kurogane thinks about how long Fai's hair has gotten, and how at home he looks here, and how the flowers all around him somehow make him look even more beautiful than he already is.

Kurogane smiles, and Fai's smile turns happier in return. Kurogane gets an idea, all of a sudden, and his eyes flick to the side for a moment - before he spots his prey. A single rose, growing from the bush beside them - the first one he sees - and he sticks his arm out and picks it, bringing it in toward himself. Fai watches wordlessly as Kurogane’s hands work between them, pulling off some of the stray leaves, cleaning up the stem. Kurogane reaches up to brush a few strands of blonde hair out of the way, then gently tucks the flower behind a pale ear, returning those stray locks over the stem, locking the flower into place.

His touch lingers behind Fai's ear as he admires his handiwork for a moment, before meeting Fai's gaze to see him still smiling, but softer now, with the smallest hint of surprise and disbelief. Kurogane's own small smile turns into a self-satisfied grin at the barest hint of blush that's appeared on those cheeks.

Fai just gapes up at him for a moment, his expression full of surprised adoration, before he breathes out a laugh and asks, "When did you turn into such a romantic, Kuro-petal?"

Kurogane does nothing but grin down in response. Then, Fai reaches over to pick another flower of his own, gently slipping it behind Kurogane's ear - quickly, as if he’s waiting for Kurogane to just swipe it away. Kurogane doesn’t really mind, though. In fact, for the second time today, he _pretends_ to roll his eyes at the gesture, closing them in fake annoyance - but he lets the flower be. Fai laughs, and Kurogane smiles.

He loves that sound.

He leans down to kiss him briefly, and Fai smiles against his lips when he pulls away.

For the rest of the morning, they stay there - sitting, talking, enjoying each other’s company. They pick stray cherry petals off of themselves - and each other - and enjoy the warm spring air.

Eventually, when they get up to leave, Fai links his arm with Kurogane's. And when they walk away, they both still have flowers in their hair.


End file.
